The Eyes of a Child
by drakien
Summary: It's interesting, the things you can tell from someone's eyes...


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**_A 10/(well, you'll just have to read to find out, won't you?) fic._**

**_Admittedly not canon compliant, but hopefully still enjoyable!_**

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He was alone again.

After two years as his companion, Donna Noble had been ready to go home. And he was ready to let her go. Truth be told, he was ready to let everything go.

He was so tired. Always alone. He'd told Donna once that he wanted to find a Mate…someone to share forever with. But he was the last of his kind, and there was no one to blame but himself. Such thoughts weighed heavily on him. These past few months, not even the prospect of a new adventure could rouse him from his…indifference. He still did everything in his power to help people; that hadn't changed. What had left was any sense of joy he'd taken from helping.

For the first time in almost a millennia, the Doctor was ready to give up.

He sat in the corner of the control room, curled up on himself and staring blankly at the wall, wondering idly if he could convince the TARDIS to transport him to the surface of a convenient O-type star…he was sure they'd passed one a few decades ago.

His melancholy was interrupted by a soft giggle, making him scramble to his feet gracelessly.

"Oh!," a small voice gasped. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

The unflappable Doctor was taken completely off-guard. It wasn't an alien invader that had come to kill him. No, in front of him was a small human child, perhaps six years old, in a yellow dress. Inside the TARDIS. With him.

He finally formed the words. "Er…hello. How did you get in?"

The girl smiled, and looked at the walls of the ship fondly. "She let me in. Your ship.

"My _ship_?!" he forced out incredulously.

"Mmm-hmm. Your TARDIS. She's ever so lovely."

The ship pulsed happily, and sounded just a little bit smug.

"Thank you," he managed.

"I was out for a walk when I saw you appear. I did try to knock, but the door opened before I could."

"Hmm, right." He couldn't for the life of him figure out how she'd seen the TARDIS; most people didn't. "What's your name?" he asked, finding himself genuinely curious for the first time in…well, in too long.

She smiled again, that sweet smile that tickled the edges of his memory. "Gallifrey. Most people just call me Gally," she offered. "Nobody I know has that name…Mum told me it was very special." Her forehead wrinkled. "Doctor? Are you all right?"

He wasn't. When he heard her name his knees buckled, and he slumped to the floor.

'_Where have you brought me?' _he asked his TARDIS silently.

'_Home. It was time.'_

Then the girl's question registered.

"Wait…how did you know…"

"That you were the Doctor? You are, right? You look just like Mum said, and when I saw the TARDIS, I just knew."

"Do I know your Mum?"

The girl…_'Gally,'_ he reminded himself…nodded. "Yeah, she talks about you a lot. My favorite bedtime stories are the ones about you."

He was nearly afraid to ask. "And your Dad?"

Her face fell for the first time. "He doesn't live with us. Mum says he's lost. I don't remember him, but Mum says my eyes look like his."

He looked her over again. She was so familiar, reminding him painfully of someone he tried to remember and forget at the same time. Then he looked at her eyes. They were a golden brown color, ordinary enough. But there was something more, something that made her seem older, somehow. In her eyes was the look of someone who saw more than they ever wanted to. It was the same look he saw in his own mirror.

"Where am I," he whispered. "_When_ am I?"

"Earth, 21st century," she said, but then shrugged. "Sort of. It's not really the real Earth; more like a copy that's just the littlest bit off, as far as I can tell."

He tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean by that? 'As far as you'…"

Gally sighed. "It's something I do…all the time, I can see what is, and what was...what could be, and what must not. Sometimes things don't make sense, and sometimes it makes my head hurt. I can't see everything yet, but I'm getting better." She frowned. "You really don't look well. Why don't you come back with me…Mum can help sort you out."

Using the wall for support, he was still listening to the echoes of his own words coming from the mouth of this little girl as he stood up. Then, as if she did it every day, she walked over and gave him a hug, startling him.

"What was that for?" he asked, genuinely perplexed.

"I like hugs," she said simply, as though it explained everything. "I always have. And you looked like you needed one."

He thought about that. How long had it been, since Donna had hugged him goodbye? "Yeah…I suppose I did," he mused.

Her eyes examined every inch of his face, finally stopping on his eyes. She tilted her head to the side, an all-too-familiar mannerism. "You're him, aren't you? You're my Dad." At this point, he was more certain about that one fact than he had ever been about anything. He nodded slowly, glad he had the console to help keep him standing. Gally's face broke into a grin. "When Mum would tell the stories about you, I wondered. I even hoped, you know. I didn't think you'd come…but then I saw that you didn't know _how_ to come. And you're like me, aren't you…you can see time."

He was positive his hearts would simply stop beating as he looked down at the small girl in front of him. The beautiful, brilliant little girl who defied all the odds by merely existing. And he wasn't alone anymore…he wasn't the last.

"Yeah, I can. See time, that is. Gallifrey," he paused, then took a deep breath. "Gallifrey was the name of my planet, of my home. It was destroyed, a long time ago, and I've been lost ever since."

"I know," she said, taking his hand. "But you're here. And I promise I won't let you get lost again."

He looked down at her small hand enveloped in his larger one, and he believed her.

"Your mum?" he whispered.

"She'll be waiting. I'll take you to the house."

In a sort of daze, he followed her out of the TARDIS and into a meadow. They walked, hand in hand, for about fifteen minutes before a small house came into view. His hearts sped up as they reached the porch and went through the door.

"Mum! Look who I found! You'll never believe it!"

"Who's that dear?" a blonde woman asked, her back to the door as she hovered over the stove.

"Rose," he whispered.

That one strangled word was infused with a hundred lifetimes of longing, grief, pain, and above all else, of love.

She turned around, surprise etched in every inch of her body.

And she smiled. He was home.

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**_Well, there you are. This is my first foray into this fandom, so be gentle. And yes, Gally's line is from 'The Fires of Pompeii'. #grin# I do adore reviews in any form!_**

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